Ok so here I am stuck and do not know why or what the heck to do......

this is the situation.
ran 25xtreme on a philips 6000 unit with normal stock quantum fireball 40 gig hard drive.....
did not run tivomad...
did not run bless tivo...
placed in tivo....works great....

Now I want to add a second hard drive....120 gig
out of the box:
put on bless tivo
placed into tivo (with a drive that has xtreme on it)
does not work still only says I have 35 hrs recording......

ok...so tried to re-install xtreme onto both drives at the same time....

errored at tivo mad....(not sure what the error said but read on and it errored again)

so now I decided to install xtreme on just the 120 gig hard drive..

run xtreme everything ok
run tivo mad...........................................yes
enter device name of tivo a drive...........hdc
will target tivo have 2 drives..................no
is target tivo >140..................................no

I had a similar problem and discovered i forgot to set the master/slave/cablesel jumpers on the new drive. It worked but reported wrong size and gave crazy errors

backinitup

10-03-2002, 02:48 PM

thanks for the reply....

what is strange is that I was reading in the western digital booklet about the jumpers and it seems tha the jumpers are different in the book than on the drive......

also if I go into fdisk it will tell me that there are no partitions, but when I do into directory, I still get some files.....any ideas?....

BubbleLamp

10-03-2002, 07:11 PM

Which fdisk are you talking about, DOS/Windows? How are you getting to it? If you are booting your PC to Windows 2000 or XP with the Tivo drive attached, you are hosing the signature of the drive.

And if the jumpers are different, figure out which is correct first, don't waste time Xtreming over and over until you know for a fact the drive is recognized properly. When Xtreme gets done booting, press SHIFT and scroll up to see what it shows when it enumerates the hard drives it finds. If it's wrong there, it's not going to be happy later.

backinitup

10-03-2002, 07:33 PM

I was booting into a windows me operating system...but the windows drive was not connected....

I had the 120gig commected to the secondary IDE and set as master and ran bless tivo...put it into my tivo with an a drive that had 25xtreme on it and it did not read it....

then I went a head and removed both drives and tried to run xtreme but when I go to run tivo mad in xtreme it errors....

when I go to set up the 120gig by itself, when I run tivomad it errors.....

when I fdisk the 120gig drive, there are no partitions, yet it gives me a directory....what happened to my 120gig hard drive?

is it fried that I cannot do a dam thing with it?...how can I add it to my xtreme hard drive now?...

I am sorry ust really frustrated....I thought all I had to do was to remove it from the box, bless it, and put it in the tivo to work..that is what I have been reading....hinsdales everywhere and nobody explains xtreme at all.....

BubbleLamp

10-03-2002, 08:32 PM

You gotta establish a baseline. See if your BIOS sees the drive as 120GB. Try formatting it in Windows. Copy files to it. Does it behave correctly?

Then boot off Xtreme disk and see if it shows up properly like I suggested earlier. If it doesn't, you've got a problem, and it doesn't pay to go farther.

When you had two drives attached, how were they connected and jumpered?

backinitup

10-03-2002, 09:08 PM

ok so check this out....

when I booted xtreme and went to check the size of the hard drive I had 14 different readings for the hdc drive.....

now what I did was.....
created a partition to the drive
connected it as a slave to the windows drive (to see if windows would recognize it)
windows did recognize the drive....(before it did not)
formatted the drive
shut the pc down and disconnect the windows drive....
set the 120 gig to master, and delete partition...

now run 25xtreme....
check the size of the drive....(reads only 1 hdc with right size)

ok so now I am running xtreme
should say yes to tivo mad...correct?

then we shall see what happens....(please answer about the tivo mad)....
also if the tio mad goes accordingly, should I say yes to run blesstivo to prepare it for a second drive sometime in the future?

Try installing Xtreme, but don't run tivomad. Put the drive in the Tivo and let it finish the Xtreme process. See if it works properly, should show a 35hr unit in system info. Once that is working, go back and run tivomad to expand.

PS Did this Xtreme CD ever work? And how much RAM does the PC have?

backinitup

10-03-2002, 09:42 PM

I just want to say thanks first off for all the help...I really apprecieate it..I really do.....

I am running a windows me system with probably 28 megs of ram could be more but not less.....

lt me go and run xtreme and see if it works...

also, I cannot put a 40 gig image on a 120 gig drive can I?

BubbleLamp

10-03-2002, 10:00 PM

Originally posted by backinitup
I just want to say thanks first off for all the help...I really apprecieate it..I really do.....

I am running a windows me system with probably 28 megs of ram could be more but not less.....

lt me go and run xtreme and see if it works...

also, I cannot put a 40 gig image on a 120 gig drive can I?

Not enough RAM.

Yes, when you Xtreme the 120, that's a 40GB image. It will boot and run just like a 40GB drive until you expand it.

backinitup

10-03-2002, 10:03 PM

so 128 megs of ram is not enough?...how much ram do I need?

and I need more ram to run tivomad right?....obviously not xtreme

BubbleLamp

10-03-2002, 10:11 PM

Originally posted by backinitup
so 128 megs of ram is not enough?...how much ram do I need?

and I need more ram to run tivomad right?....obviously not xtreme

You said 28 meg, 128 should be fine.

You also didn't actually test reading and writing to the drive under Windows, did you?

backinitup

10-03-2002, 10:13 PM

sorry about the 28 megs...yes it is 128 megs...

no I did not test reading and writing to the drive in windows.

now I went ahead, and added a partition, then went into windows and read the drive then sent netscape navigator to the drive and opened it, then deleted it....then went ahead and deleted the partition...

now I am running 25xtreme again ......

backinitup

10-03-2002, 10:26 PM

ok so now I am trying to boot the tivo a drive into the tivo with only 25xtreme on it.....

All i get is the welcome. powering up screen...over and over and over again......

BubbleLamp

10-03-2002, 10:55 PM

Originally posted by backinitup
ok so now I am trying to boot the tivo a drive into the tivo with only 25xtreme on it.....

All i get is the welcome. powering up screen...over and over and over again......

Well I'm out of ideas and this thread is getting too long. Suggest you try to burn another copy of Xtreme if you can. Good luck.

backinitup

10-03-2002, 10:57 PM

well thanks for the help....will try...maybe chuck it over the balcony...

poppagene

10-03-2002, 11:00 PM

try a low level format of the hard drive

backinitup

10-03-2002, 11:41 PM

well added a partition....formated hard drive in windows....am now running a scandisk of the drive to check for errors....

so let me recap here...I bouht a 120 gig hard drive western digital
but bkess tivo on it, andplaced it into a xtremed 40 gig tivo...did not read the drive....

so I removed the drives tried to re-run xtreme with the 2 drives
came up to tivomad and I get errors..
no matter what I do I get errors when I get to tivomad...wether it be putting just the 120gig by itself or having two drives...errors..

I have added a partition, and deleted it...you name it I have done it....

I initially downloaded the file from the xtreme-emu.com site... and burned it at 16x speed....

now I am downloading rom framethrower site, and will burn at 2 times.....
seems like for some reason directivomad is just not working...but xtreme is...

any ideas?

BubbleLamp

10-03-2002, 11:56 PM

Why not create a boot floppy with Tivomad on it and see if that works?

Lots of people have trouble when burning Xtreme with Nero, is that what you're using?

backinitup

10-04-2002, 12:06 AM

I am using Prassi....

The tivomad floppy discs are 13 floppys.....

I will use the cd...lol

BubbleLamp

10-04-2002, 12:18 AM

Originally posted by backinitup
I am using Prassi....

how do I create a floppy of tivomad?....hinsdales hu?..lol

No idea what Prassi is. Tivomad floppy get here (http://pvrhack.sonnik.com/tivo/dl_info.asp?DLID=47).

backinitup

10-04-2002, 12:38 AM

is actually a dvd burning software that also has cd burning software on it also.....

now this might be a strange question...but I have to make an original image onto my 120gig drive first?..then run tivo mad?

that is what the readme says.....
why would I not have to put an image on the new drive if I ran it in xtreme?..why is it that I can pull a new hard drive out of the box and add it to xtreme and it will work...but when I want to use the boot floppy ...I have to make an image first???

Also it cannot be tivomad....because when I load 25xtreme and put it in my tivo (by itself)..it never boots up...all I got was the welcome powering up screen.....

now I just went ahead and partitioned and de-partitioned the hard drive, and am running xtreme.....we'll see what happens...

could it be the disk..that for some reason tivo mad does not work?..If that is the case then why would xtreme work with all of my other hadr drives just not this one?

BubbleLamp

10-04-2002, 01:14 AM

Fine, so have we established that you've never gotten this CD to work correctly? Yes? Then get some other CD burning software.

If it has worked for you before, then are you POSITIVE the jumpers are correct? Is there a jumper for drive translation? Have you run their diagnostics on the drive?

A boot floppy cannot possibly contain the entire image, so of course something has to be on the disk first.

backinitup

10-04-2002, 01:36 AM

how do I run the diagnostics test?
xtreme has worked on 5 other units...I now the disc is good.

lets start from the beginning.....

so I just pull my hard drive out of the box from the store and want to add it to an already xtremed 40 gig hard drive.....

what do I have to do?

BubbleLamp

10-04-2002, 02:01 AM

Go to the drive mfr.'s site and D/L their diag utils.

The recommendations I've seen say the larger drive should be the A drive.

backinitup

10-04-2002, 02:51 AM

everytime I check the files in xtreme or mfs tools they always appear the right size....I ran bless tivo no problem....

now I partitioned the hard drive and formatted it,then ran bless tivo without deleting the partition.....no cigar.....

I think the best thing to do is thake the freakin thing back to the store....because this makes no sense at all..and I am just tired of screwing with a drive that is going nowhere......!!!!!

This whole xtreme and tivomad and blesstivo is confusing the hell out of me....but the thing that pisses me off the most is that it is not hard to do...........

this is what I get.....

2.5xtreme:
for what purposes does it do?

for a single drive stock 40G hard drive:
set drive to master (should already be there if taken out of tivo)
connect drive to secondary ide slot on motherboard
connect cd drive to primary master on motherboard
run xtreme (page up to make sure that drive size is accurate for right setting...ex: hdd,hdc,
runtivomad now ............................no
run blesstivo now..........................no
when finished
crl+alt+del
place into tivo drive....enjoy tv....

To install xtreme onto stock 2 tivo hard drives.....
set tivo A drive to master...and B drive to slave (should be set already)
connect drive to secondary ide slot on motherboard
connect cd drive to primary master on motherboard
run xtreme (page up to make sure that drive size for both drives is accurate for right setting...ex: hdd,hdc, )
run tivomadnow..............................................yes
(answer appropriate questions)
run blesstivo now..........................................yes
(answer appropriate questions)
when finished.....
ctrl+alt+del
place into tivo drive...enjoy tv......

To install xtreme onto a NEW larger A drive:
set drive to master
connect drive to secondary ide slot on motherboard
connect cd drive to primary master on motherboard
run xtreme (page up to make sure that drive size is accurate for right setting...ex: hdd,hdc)
run tivomadnow...........................................yes
(answer appropriate questions)
run bless tivo now........................................no
when finished
ctrl+alt+del
place into tivo drive...enjoy tv......

set tivo A drive to master...and B drive to slave (should be set already)
connect drive to secondary ide slot on motherboard
connect cd drive to primary master on motherboard
run xtreme (page up to make sure that drive size for both drives is accurate for right setting...ex: hdd,hdc, )
run tivomadnow..............................................yes
(answer appropriate questions)
run blesstivo now..........................................yes
(answer appropriate questions)
when finished.....
ctrl+alt+del
place into tivo drive...enjoy tv......

Adding a larger second (B) drive to a tivo with a stock A drive (40g) with xtreme already on it:

set tivo A drive to master...and B drive to slave (should be set already)
connect drive to secondary ide slot on motherboard
connect cd drive to primary master on motherboard
run xtreme (page up to make sure that drive size for both drives is accurate for right setting...ex: hdd,hdc, )
run tivomadnow..............................................yes
(answer appropriate questions)
run blesstivo now..........................................yes
(answer appropriate questions)
when finished.....
ctrl+alt+del
place into tivo drive...enjoy tv......

Is this the guidlines that we should follow for working with xtreme?.......

backinitup

10-04-2002, 02:53 AM

Basically saying that all you have to do is re-apply xtreme to whatever combination you have and it should all come out right?

Now what about a tivo A drive that has xtreme on it and I want to add a B drive......?
Q: can I run bless tivo on the B drive then put it into the tivo with the already xtremed A drive?
Q: Do I need to run tivo mad before/with bless tivo then put into tivo to get actual recording hours with the already xtremed A drive?
Q: Can I run Bless Tivo, put into tivo to marry with the already xtremed A drive, then remove and put on tivomad then back in tivo to get combined size of both drives?
Q: Can I take a brand new factory hard drive out of the box and run xtreme on it and it will work as a single drive tivo?
Q: can I take a brand new drive out of the box, and attach it as a b drive and run xtreme, tivomad, and blesstivo at the same time and get the right recording hours size with having xtreme on it now?
Q; Do I have to format or partition or do anything to a BRAND NEW hard drive out of the box BEFORE I run Blesstivo, tivomad, or 25xtreme?
Q: If I ran xtreme on a tivo A drive and said yes to running bless tivo during the xtreme setup but did not add a drive then....could I just bless a new drive and add it to the already xtremed A drive? Or do I have to take both drives out and run xtreme with tivomad and bless tivo at one time?

THESE are all questiond regarding the loading of xtreme with a directivo combo unit only......not a standalone unit...not rebooting a "regular/virgin" tivo image.......BUT for loading 25xtreme only..

thanks.....This will help all the newbies out there...trust me.....

BubbleLamp

10-04-2002, 03:33 AM

Basically saying that all you have to do is re-apply xtreme to whatever combination you have and it should all come out right?

Now what about a tivo A drive that has xtreme on it and I want to add a B drive......?
Q: can I run bless tivo on the B drive then put it into the tivo with the already xtremed A drive?

I thought if it was a stock single drive image on the drive, they should marry the first time you boot with both drives. However, the Tivomad process does a bit more during the first boot, so I'm not 100% positive.

Q: Do I need to run tivo mad before/with bless tivo then put into tivo to get actual recording hours with the already xtremed A drive?

With, so it can expand to use all the A drive space, then bless the B drive, so they marry in the Tivo.

Q: Can I run Bless Tivo, put into tivo to marry with the already xtremed A drive, then remove and put on tivomad then back in tivo to get combined size of both drives?

No, don't think so.

Q: Can I take a brand new factory hard drive out of the box and run xtreme on it and it will work as a single drive tivo?

Yes.

Q: can I take a brand new drive out of the box, and attach it as a b drive and run xtreme, tivomad, and blesstivo at the same time and get the right recording hours size with having xtreme on it now?

You never Xtreme a B drive. An Xtremed A drive needs to be booted once to let it complete the process. Then you'd put both A and B on the PC, then tivomad/bless to get full capacity.

Q; Do I have to format or partition or do anything to a BRAND NEW hard drive out of the box BEFORE I run Blesstivo, tivomad, or 25xtreme?

No.

Q: If I ran xtreme on a tivo A drive and said yes to running bless tivo during the xtreme setup but did not add a drive then....could I just bless a new drive and add it to the already xtremed A drive? Or do I have to take both drives out and run xtreme with tivomad and bless tivo at one time?

Only if you didn't previously boot with the A drive only.

THESE are all questiond regarding the loading of xtreme with a directivo combo unit only......not a standalone unit...not rebooting a "regular/virgin" tivo image.......BUT for loading 25xtreme only..

thanks.....This will help all the newbies out there...trust me.....

Didn't you say you've done this 5 times? This stuff is all in Hinsdale's How To and the readme files. :confused:

backinitup

10-04-2002, 04:19 AM

Didn't you say you've done this 5 times? This stuff is all in Hinsdale's How To and the readme files.

I have done 5 units before all stock tivo A drives and just ran xtreme on them...they all ran perfect....

ok...so what it comes down to is this....

I run xtreme on a stock tivo drive and let it boot up....
watch tv for a few weeks...
if I want to add a second drive I have to remove both hard drives and and connect them to the pc and run tivomad...and bless tivo.?

I want to replace the stock a drive with a larger a drive:
I run xtreme, and let it boot in the tivo. (will read 35 gig) ..then attach it to my pc and run tivo mad to get its full capacity.....?or can I run xtreme with tivomad in xtreme and get the full capacity of my hard drive then?

I want to add 2 new hard drives....
I run xtreme on A drive... let boot in tivo...., then take out and place in cpu with second drive and run tivomad and bless tivo to get full capacity of both drives?

so.......Xtreme is just an tivo image basically that is hacked.....now if I want to add anything there really is no difference if I am adding an additional drive to a tivo A drive that has xtreme or has a stock image?...basically I do it the same way as hinsdales how to.....right?

Now do we run bless tivo or tivo mad first?..probably bless tivo so that the drives marry then get the full capacity out of them.....

I just want to make sure because I have read and read and all these post start to contradict themselves after you have read so much.......And I just do not understand why my 120 gig hard drive does not work.....

backinitup

10-04-2002, 02:26 PM

I will not ask any more questions after this.......

poppagene

10-04-2002, 06:22 PM

To echo bubblelamp's point:

http://support.wdc.com/download/dlg/dlgdiag10.zip

Download the above diagnostic file from western digital. It souns to me like you have a problem with the hard drive.

"The Diagnostics utility allows you to test the drive, print results for last drive tested, repair errors found during the Test Drive option and write zeros to the drive (low-level format)."

backinitup

10-04-2002, 06:53 PM

forget that last reemark...I read the readme file.....

will post with results...

backinitup

10-04-2002, 08:09 PM

I ran the quick diagnostics...and received 0 errors...

complete diagnostics......0 errors...

writing 0's

now starting at a drive with all 0's do I need to partition the drive or will xtreme do the partitioning..?

backinitup

10-04-2002, 09:02 PM

When you open a brand new hard drive are there any partitions on the drive?..........or does xtreme place partitions on the drive?